I thought I would chronicle the various adventures and misadventures of my new character for this game. (My first character was a half-elf mage who I sent into the Elspir mines and was killed so many times by rats that he perma-died, which I hadn't realized was a thing at the time.) Just sort of giving my off the top of my head impressions, and maybe serving as a bit of a walkthrough for those who come later.

Enter: Trini Kurtz, Human Rogue. One of my players tried to run a 3E game, but it fell apart early on (as so many games tend to do), but the character I ran in that game was Trini, so I just copied her data into the game (as well as I could; NWN simplifies a lot of stuff from 3E). She's mainly built as an archer, with the Point Blank Shot feat. She's not a thief, really. She rarely steals, and when she does, it's from evil people. And she gives the coin to the poor. So sort of a Robin Hood type.

Day 01: Just wandered around the town of Elspir, sort of getting a feel for the place. I stayed away from the mines, having learned my lesson last time, and instead just killed turkeys. Turkeys are worth 55 XP, which is pretty impressive for something that doesn't fight back. They have a surprisingly high AC, though. I need a 14 to hit one!

Day 02: I encountered another adventurer. A fairly high level one, I think (her HP was over a hundred, so...). Her name was Nina Nacomis. She gave me a few items, though, including a couple pieces of jewelry, a +1 bracer, a cloak, and some poison arrows. Although I later learned I need to be level 5 to use the arrows, so I'll just hold on to those. She also gave me a map of the city. We talked a bit. She was hunting some kind of bird. It started to rain, and she mentioned she was once struck by lightning. Guess Thor wasn't too happy with her. She went on her bird hunt, so I decided to get indoors, just in case.

Day 03: Hunted turkeys for a bit. As I wandered the edge of the forest outside of the city, I spotted what appeared to be a shrine to Sól. That happens to be my god, so I went to check it out. Unfortunately, a winter wolf was stalking the area. I'm not sure if high level monsters like that just spawn right outside the city regularly or if it was some kind of bug. I immediately went into stealth and tried to sneak away, but it saw me and killed me with one hit of its frost breath. So that was Death #1. Ironic, as everyone keeps telling me the beginning area is completely safe.

Day 04: I hunt more turkeys, and then hit level 2. I now have evasion. That would have been useful against the winter wolf's breath. I head back up to the shrine of Sól, but the winter wolf is gone. Maybe someone killed it? I pray at the shrine and get a frost resistance buff. How terribly ironic.

Day 05: Now that I'm level 2, I decided to head into the mines again. I'll be more careful this time, relying on stealth, sneak attacks...and a henchman. Except, one problem, I can't really afford one? There's a fellow outside the Fighter's Guildhall, and he is way too much. I find another guy in the tavern, but he won't even make an offer. I think I'm too low level or something. So then I try the inn, having remembered seeing a kenku there. But he's not there now. I guess someone else recruited him. Oh, well. I'll just be really careful.

I descend into the first level of the mines, and stealth my way forward. I spot a rat, an easy target. But it has a friend, and a dire rat next to it. I manage to one-shot the rat, and the other two charge. I manage to defeat them, but I have to drink two potions of CLW and I get diseased. Each rat gave me 18 XP. Which means...wow, the turkeys were actually better. And they don't even fight back.

I find a small chamber, and it's filled with rats. Like maybe 7 or so? I just sneak right back out. Not worth it.

I find a fire beetle, and one-shot it. I find a second one, and do the same. They are also only worth 18 XP, but I carve up their corpses and take their bellies. They have to be worth something, right?

I get back to town and sell the beetle bellies at the equipment shop...for 1 GP each. Okay, so not worth it. I get more money and experience for turkey heads!

Ah, well. After that, I kill like a dozen turkeys, then use the gold to buy more healing potions. I also use a healing kit to get rid of the disease, because it gave me a nasty CON penalty, which lowered my HP. Then I called it a night.

That was basically all I did today. I killed something like 25 turkeys. I notice they only give 52 XP now. Then I hit level 3, and they started giving 47 XP. So it looks like this is not indefinitely sustainable, but for now, it's still more XP and GP than rats would give.

So yes, I reached level 3 and took Weapon Focus (Short Bow) for my feat. So now I get a +6 to hit with it (+7 if I'm really close up, thanks to my Point Blank Shot feat). As I was heading past the shrine to Sól, I again saw a wolf! But not a winter wolf. Not even a dire wolf. Just a regular, mundane wolf. Feeling confident, I took a shot at it. I miss a lot. I manage to slay it, but have to drink two Potions of CLW to survive. It gives about the same XP as the turkeys. I notice I can skin its pelt if I have a skinning knife, but I don't. Interesting.

So I turn in my turkey heads for lots of gold, then return to town. I restock my arrows and healing potions, then look around for a skinning knife. I can't find one. The equipment shop has a carving knife, but I'm not sure if that's the same thing or not.

I tried to take screenshots, but they came up blank for some reason. Ah, well.

Today, things got interesting. I started the day like always, hunting turkeys. Killed about 28 of them or so, turned in their heads. But I noticed a sign on the market tree in town. It was from a farmer named Len to the south, who said gnolls were attacking his farm. I'm not sure how effective I would be against gnolls, but I thought I'd branch out beyond the starter area and see what's south.

I enter the lovely countryside, following the road until I come across the farm. There stands Len, among his animals, asking for help. I agree to take the quest. I figure I can, if nothing else, scout out the area and figure out if it's too much for me. First, I help him build a barricade, as the east wall has crumbled--presumably due to gnoll attacks.

I scout a bit more, and come across a pen of cows. Presumably they belong to Len. However, they are being attacked by goblins! I kill the goblins (collecting the single GP they had among them), to save the cows. I search around, and get ambushed by a bombardier beetle. It gives me a disease before I can kill it. A second one burrows up at a later point, but I kill it, as well.

I manage to find the goblins' nearby lair, a small cave. There are more goblins on the outside, and I pick them off using stealth and sneak attacks. Entering the cave, I find a trap but manage to disable it. There are a bunch of them down here, including their leader, Kurzriyl the Keeper of the Scroll. I set my own trap (minor spike), then try picking off a few of the strays without being seen. Then I attack the leader, who rushes into my trap. He and his two buddies do manage to kill me, though. So that's death #2. On the bright side, death cures my disease, though.

I respawn and kill off the remaining goblins. Searching their cave I find a couple of minor potions, a couple of gemstones (averturine and quartz crystal), a book (Wind by the Fireside) and a scroll of Lesser Restoration. Hmm, was that the scroll that Kurzriyl kept? I couldn't actually loot Kurzriyl at all. Like, I couldn't even click on him. I found the scroll in a box in their camp, so...maybe?

I return to Len to let him know I saved and avenged his cows, but he's still only concerned with the gnolls. So I head east, the direction he said they are camped. I find a sacrificial pig (presumably put out by Len to appease the gnolls), and pass it by. I find their territory easily enough. It's clearly marked by the dead bodies and heads on spikes. I pause a moment to consider if I want to risk sneaking in or not. As I ponder this, a dire weasel attacks me. Somehow, it drains my CON down to 4. I have no idea how, but I eventually manage to kill it. But, just as I fire the death blow, a gnoll comes running after me, too. I lure it away from the farm, stopping to take pot shots at it. It eventually catches up to me, and due to my awful CON, it kills me before I can kill it. So that is death #3. I respawn and finish him off. On the bright side, dying restored my CON.

At that point, I decide to call it a night. Two deaths in one day is pretty bad, since I have a CON of 10, so only 7 lives left now! I return to Elspir. I'm fairly close to level 4 now. So I'll probably kill more turkeys tomorrow to get there, sell my loot, then try and find a henchman, then go take care of the gnolls.

Funny to note, the goblins were also worth less XP than turkeys. The gnolls were equal. Those bombardier beetles, though, were worth quite a bit!

Thanks for posting about your adventures Jaded, I am very interested in them and this game. I wasn't blowing smoke when I told Cole how awesome this game looks, but past experience has told me that online video games aren't right for me personally, so that's why I won't be joining in. I'll content myself to experiencing it vicariously through your posts.

What is it about online games you don't like? Usually, with me, it's that they're filled with assholes. Griefers, scammers, trolls, and so forth. But this game's population is so low, I've only ever actually run into another player once (and she was quite nice and helpful) so that hasn't been a problem.

Day 8: Not a whole lot to report. First, I tried to sell my loot, to no avail. None of the shopkeeps will buy the gemstone or the scroll. I guess I'll have to hold on to them and sell them in a different town? Maybe one with a jewelry and mageware shop?

All I did today was kill another 28 turkeys. The goal was to hit level 4, but I realized that suddenly, the turkeys are only giving me 18 XP each. I was worried that wouldn't be enough, and it wasn't. But the 5 XP a pop I got for turning in their heads was, so I managed to hit level 4 anyway. (Plus, I ran into a boar and killed it for 82 XP, and that really helped. All of its attacks missed me, so I didn't even get hurt.)

I put the +1 to my ability scores in DEX, raising it to 17.

And that's about it. Now I feel more ready to take on those gnolls at Len's farm, next time.

I've adjusted a few things according to your log notes here Jaded New things are added daily, especially on my four days off every four days... so be aware, just because something is there one day, it may not be the next. I'm really honing in on new players now having lots to do, with relative ease. I'll have another cheap henchy in soon at the Dragon's Paw guild as I do realize now that as the server's population grows... certain folks are hogging cheap henchy's and there's none left of low value for the new players. I've talked to several of the high level folks about doing that already, so hopefully they leave Kyfu etc alone.

Oh, no, did turkeys get nerfed because of me? Don't tell anyone, I don't want to get PK'd for this.

Day 9: First, I decided to search for a hireling to bring with me. I found one, in the inn, Korrd Lavonsworth. He was the one who wouldn't even give me the time of day before, but maybe because I'm level 4 now, that had changed. As far as I can tell, there's no way to tell what class and level a character is until after you've hired them, so I just decided to pick him and see how he worked out for now. He's a human ranger, level 6. He specializes in the bow, but he had a pair of blades to dual-wield with, so I had him switch to them so he could tank for me.

Then I headed back to Len's farm. I restarted the quest, and repaired the fence, then went looking for those gnolls. There was a group of them camped to the east. Killed them all, and that CON draining dire weasel again (it got me again, but I used that scroll of Lesser Restoration to fix it). Once the gnolls were all dead, I cleaned out the loot from their camp, then returned to Len. He asked if I had proof, but the only option I had was to choose 'No.'

So...maybe they were the wrong gnolls? Len said the gnolls were to the east, and it was the east wall of his farm fence that was destroyed, and the gnoll camp I was just in was to the east, but maybe there's another gnoll camp? So I explore the entire map, and here's what I found:

* A whole bunch of bombardier beetles (one of which killed Korrd. I tried to revive him with a healing kit, but it had no effect despite my roll being successful. I also wasted two CMW potions trying to use them on him, but they were used on me instead. I guess I don't understand how to revive a person, but he stabilized on his own and eventually woke up).

* A forest with a druid in it, some satyrs, some woodland critters and a tower. The tower had a warning sign saying it was full of undead. Interesting, but not what I was looking for.

* A guy standing outside of a wagon of some kind. He said a goblin stole his scroll and gave me a quest to recover it. I realized he was talking about Kurzriyl, the Keeper of the Scroll, that I killed before. (Oddly, the wagon was there last time, but the guy wasn't, so I never realized it was part of a quest). So I returned to the goblin cave, killed them all, and found the scroll. I guess it wasn't there last time since I hadn't activated the quest. But! I also found a suit of chain mail +1 (which I sold for a whopping 151 GP) and a hand-axe +1, which I kept as a melee weapon (even though I usually stick with the short bow). Upon returning the scroll, I also got some decent XP and gold, so that was nice.

* A war boar was just wandering around, so I adopted it as a mount. However, after I got back to town, I went into a shop and it vanished forever. Ah, well.

After I had cleared the whole map, I started to wonder if maybe the gnolls I was looking for were on a different map, to the east. But there was no eastern exit to that particular map; just a north and south one (and the north one went back into town). So I went south, looked around a bit, and came up with nothing. When I returned, the gnolls I had killed before I had respawned, so I killed them again. And this still didn't end the quest, so...I don't know! I'll figure it out eventually, I guess.

But it was hardly a waste. I made almost all of the money back I spent on hiring Korrd, and earned a decent amount of XP--more than I would have earned killing turkeys, at any rate.

JadedDM wrote:Oh, no, did turkeys get nerfed because of me? Don't tell anyone, I don't want to get PK'd for this.

Indirectly yes, but it wasn't just you. We originally made turkeys alot of XP because everyone seemed intimidated to go explore at risk of dying. After months of adding new things to the game though and seeing yourself post about it and another guy just farming turkeys ALL DAY LONG ... and I mean hundreds of turkeys... lol... we noted that our plan was being abused, so we lowered their CR to half what it was... it's still to good IMO, but my main tester says it's perfect now. A rat and a turkey are worth the same XP now, but the heads add a bit more for the work

Have you tried fishing yet Jaded?

*Side note: Quests are all done via my own quest engine, the problem with those is if someone starts the quest, does half of it and logs off with the quest item, the rest of us get screwed until the next server reset. If they complete the quest "Len" for example would have told you it's (over, done, problem has been solved etc). So you did kill off the right gnolls, but their leaders hide was already taken and thus you couldn't complete the quest. Glad you figured out the other Goblin quest though

I was just happy to see that 5 people logged in yesterday... "Build it and they shall come!"

Cole wrote:Quests are all done via my own quest engine, the problem with those is if someone starts the quest, does half of it and logs off with the quest item, the rest of us get screwed until the next server reset.

Ahhh, okay, I see. I've never logged off with while holding a quest item, but now I know to never do that in the future, as well.

Day 10: Well, I accomplished a lot, but at GREAT cost.

First, I went ahead and hired a new hireling. This one was Kyfu, a kenku and level 3 rogue. I'm already a level 4 rogue, so that seems redundant. So I had him switch to his melee weapon and figured I'd make do.

So first, we headed back south of town and did the goblin quest again. On the way to Dorion, the quest giver, however, we got struck by lightning. I took 17 damage, which was most of my HP. I had to drink a potion, but it was my last one. I foolishly forgot to restock when I was town. At this point, I should have turned back, but I suppose I grew overconfident yesterday and decided to press on.

The goblin fight didn't go well. Eventually I won, got the loot, and turned in the scroll. But, Kyfu died and so did I. So that was death #4.

Again, at this point, I probably should have turned back, restocked my healing potions and maybe found another hireling. But I pressed on, to Len's farm. The dire weasel was there again, draining my CON and killing me not once, but twice! So that was death #5 and death #6. I eventually killed it, then drank a Potion of Barkskin and went after the gnolls. There were only three. Their leader I fought alone, and nearly died in the attempt, but he did drop his hide, which was the proof I needed for Len. I also took out the two other ones, just barely surviving with a potion of CMW I picked up from loot.

After all that, I returned to town, sold what loot I could, and bought 10 CLW potions. I'm a little under 2,000 XP to level up, so I think I'll just farm turkeys for a bit. I only have 4 lives left, after all. At the rate I'm burning through them, I won't live to see level 5.

Advice: Your CON counter always goes down one each time you die. Once you CON count exceeds your characters actual Constitution score, you will need to visit Niflheim. To combat this, remember to "PRAY". Every time you pray at a shrine or pray during resting periods you receive a hidden roll that checks to see if your deity is listening to your prayers. IF they are, you will receive a +1 to your CON counter

Interesting. I pray before every time I rest and I visit the shrine of Sol just north of Elspir every day, but nothing like that has ever happened before.

Day 11: Today, I took it easy. I hunted 35 turkeys, but they are only worth 7 XP each now, so I didn't level up yet. Probably next time. There were a couple of boars, too. One of them dropped a 'skinnable corpse.' Luckily, I had acquired a skinning knife on one of my quests, so now I could try it out.

Except, I couldn't figure out how it worked. I tried clicking on the corpse while equipped with the knife, I tried attacking the corpse with the knife, I tried activating the knife and then clicking on the corpse and activating the knife and then clicking on myself. Regardless, I kept getting the same message: "Use [sic] must hold a skinning knife to loot this corpse."

Well, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.

I returned to town, stocked back up on healing potions (I spent a couple fighting those boars), and also noticed the temple was open. In the past, whenever I would visit it, the priest inside would refuse to let me in. But today, the door was open so I could enter. There was a cleric henchman in there, so that's worth remembering. There were also shrines to every god, including Sol. So assuming the temple remains open, I don't have to travel outside of town to pray to his shrine now. So that's neat.

JadedDM wrote:Except, I couldn't figure out how it worked. I tried clicking on the corpse while equipped with the knife, I tried attacking the corpse with the knife, I tried activating the knife and then clicking on the corpse and activating the knife and then clicking on myself.

Hummm, I wonder if you found a rogue skinning knife that accidently got imported into this module without me knowing of it. Perhaps the script got a bug in it... not sure, but I'll look into it.

They are usually simple, put it in your hand, click on the skinnable beast and whala!

Cole wrote:Hummm, I wonder if you found a rogue skinning knife that accidently got imported into this module without me knowing of it. Perhaps the script got a bug in it... not sure, but I'll look into it.

You might be right. I found another skinning knife being sold at the equipment shop today, and not only did it look different, but it had a different description (the one I found that wouldn't work had a -1 to penalty to it, while this one did not). So I sold the one I found and bought the new one (it was only 2 GP), so hopefully next time it should work.

Day 12: Not much to report. I killed like 50 turkeys, and reached level 5 as a result. That means more sneak attack damage, but also I can use those poison arrows that Nina gave me, way back on Day 2.

Next time, I think I'll grab a henchman (I have plenty of gold now), and try heading either north or east of Elspir, and see what's out there.

I also found out something neat. Usually when I end a session, I head to the inn, get a key for a room (costing 3 GP), and then head up to that room to pray and rest. But today I realized I can just go pray and rest in the hallway, bypassing the need for a key altogether.

First, I went looking for a new hireling. I found a fellow at the blacksmith's shop, a half-ogre fighter (level 5, CG) named Borme. for 150 GP (but I talked him down to 100 GP). Borme is a glass cannon. He hits hard, but his AC is the same as mine, so I wound up using most of my healing potions and healing kits on him instead of me.

After a quick prayer at the Sol shrine to the north of town, we were on our way. First thing I saw was what appeared to be an old cathedral. There were a number of gravestones out back, some of which I could interact with (including praying and leaving behind flowers, if I had any; which I didn't). There was also a corpse wagon. The smell forced a fortitude check, but luckily I passed. There were three zombies in the rear, and we quickly took care of them.

Mostly what I encountered after that was wildlife. There were a number of boars, wolves and bears. This meant I had the opportunity to try out my new skinning knife, which actually works. I got meat and hides from all the animals we killed. I'll store them in my pack for now, but I think I can do something with them later; making armor or food, perhaps? I'll look into it later.

At one point, I spotted a couple of ravens just flying around a big tree. Circling around, I found the tree was hallowed out and had a corpse in it. I found 5 GP and a copper necklace on it.

I also climbed a hill and at the top found a 'graveyard mushroom,' which is an odd name since it was on the other side of the map of the actual graveyard. But picking it up triggered a quest. It said to return it to the farmer in Elspir. Which farmer? I know only of two. The turkey head fellow, and Len.

The only other thing of note was I came across a wagon with a couple of dead corpses near it. It looked like they were ambushed. Sure enough, a pair of Ekothian raiders appeared on horseback and attacked. We made short work of them, and they had some great loot. Both carried +1 spears and +1 short bows, as well as some +1 arrows and potions of Bull's Strength. Noice.

We returned to the cathedral and I picked the lock so we could enter. It looked abandoned and ransacked. But there were statues to most of the gods, so the place felt safe. We rested there, then returned to Elspir.

I tried talking to the turkey farmer, but no go. I put the mushroom in his turkey head barrel, but that just made it vanish. Whoops! Oh, well.

Then I sold the +1 spears and one of the +1 short bows (keeping the other for myself, natch), and the copper necklace. I restocked on healing potions and healing kits, and called it a night. All in all, not a bad session. No deaths and some decent loot, and I made a small chunk of XP, too.

Next time I'll look into what I can do with those animal hides and meats.

Day 14: So I did some research on those animal hides, and first thing I need is a curing tub. But I can't find one, not in Elspir, at least. So I'll hold on to them for now. I also found there is a baking skill in the game, but I'm not sure it has anything to do with all that animal meat I have. I went ahead and sold it (1 GP each), just to clear up my inventory space, and I can always get more if it turns out it was useful.

So I decided that instead, I would take the east path out of town and see where that takes me. I went to the temple to pray to Sol, then recruited Austral Morncal, a human cleric (level 2) for 100 GP (although I talked him down to 80). This turned out to be a mistake. Once we got into the forest, he just stopped. He wouldn't follow me at all, even when I commanded him, too. Nor could I access his inventory (which is something I could do with every other hireling). He would just meander around at the beginning of the map. If a monster came close to him, he would sometimes attack. Plus, he was not well built. He dual-wielded hammers, despite not having the feats for it, so his attack penalties were quite large.

It didn't take long to realize this wasn't going to work, so I returned to town and went to the fighter's guild. I hired Horrn Krosskuller (a half-orc fighter, level 2) for 50 GP. But he's lower level than me and spec'd for a long sword, which he doesn't have (he had a mace and a pick). So I also pick up Ardun Lordsheld (human fighter, level 4) for 200 GP. The two of them, together, proves sufficient to get me through this alive.

So, back to the forest to the east. I run into some goblins, which doesn't prove much of a danger. A few wildlife critters, like wolves and a bear. Then I come across something I did not expect, a small port town called Stonecall. There's not much there. But I do find a smithy that sells studded leather, so I swap it out with my current leather. It only increases my AC by 1, but hey, that ain't nothing!

There's also a troglodyte lair on the outskirts. Hmm, why not? So the three of us delve in. It doesn't prove too much of a challenge. The warriors tank while I fire arrows, well outside the range of the troglodyte stench. I also deal with any traps that are found. At one point, I find a trapped chest and disarm it, only to find 1 GP inside. Are these troglodytes are trolls? Who does that?

Anyway, the biggest challenge was at the end, against the chieftain and his guards. They almost wipe out the party, taking down Ardun (although he gets back up after a few rounds), but luckily we finish them off quickly after that. I get a ton of loot. Too much to really mention, but several spell scrolls and potions (to the point that I did not need to restock on healing potions after this was done), a few jewels and a copper necklace, and a big chest at the end had a little over 3,500 GP in it! Noice!

No level ups, but I am a bit closer. No deaths, either, so that's good. I also picked up the chieftain's head, which triggered a quest. I found a movable stool, which I guess is just a stool you can carry around and then put down when you want to sit? But it weighed 50 lbs, so...I left that behind.

Got back to Stonecall, threw the head into the fire, and earned some XP for finishing the quest. Then I returned to Elspir to call it a day.

Somewhere along the way, the cleric, Austral, vanished from the party and I got a message in my quest log saying "ERROR - Henchman." I think he was just really bugged out.

But now I think I've tried every hireling in Elspir so far. There was one in Stonecall, Murk I think his name was? He cost something like 500 GP, so he must be pretty strong. I might check him out at a later date.